446 PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS. [&• 



H. 



DOCUMENTS RELATIVE TO THE NEGOTIATION IN 1826-7. * 



British Statement annexed to the Protocol of the sixth Conference, by 

 Messrs. Huskisson and Addington, Plenipotentiaries on the Part of 

 Great Britain. 



The government of Great Britain, in proposing to renew, for a further 

 term of years, the third article of the convention of 1818, respecting the 

 territory on the north-west coast of America, west of the Rocky Moun- 

 tains, regrets that it has been found impossible, in the present negotiation, 

 to agree upon aline of boundary which should separate those parts of that 

 territory, which might henceforward be occupied or settled by the subjects 

 of Great Britain, from the parts which would remain open to occupancy 

 and settlement by the United States. 



To establish such a boundary must be the ultimate object of both 

 countries. With this object in contemplation, and from a persuasion that 

 a part of the difficulties which have hitherto prevented its attainment is 

 to be attributed to a misconception, on the part of the United States, of 

 the claims and views of Great Britain in regard to the territory in ques- 

 tion, the British plenipotentiaries deem it advisable to bring under the 

 notice of the American plenipotentiary a full and explicit exposition of 

 those claims and views. 



As preliminary to this discussion, it is highly desirable to mark dis- 

 tinctly the broad difference between the nature of the rights claimed by 

 Great Britain and those asserted by the United States, in respect to the 

 territory in question. 



Over a large portion of that territory, namely, from the 42d degree 

 to the 49th degree of north latitude, the United States claim full and ex- 

 clusive sovereignty. 



Great Britain claims no exclusive sovereignty over any portion of that 

 territory. Her present claim, not in respect to any part, but to the whole, 

 is limited to a right of joint occupancy, in common with other states, 

 leaving the right of exclusive dominion in abeyance. 



In other words, the pretensions of the United States tend to the ejec- 

 tion of all other nations, and, among the rest, of Great Britain, from all 

 right of settlement in the district claimed by the United States. 



The pretensions of Great Britain, on the contrary, tend to the mere 

 maintenance of her own rights, in resistance to the exclusive character of 

 the pretensions of the United States. 



Having thus stated the nature of the respective claims of the two 

 parties, the British plenipotentiaries will now examine the grounds on 

 which those claims are founded. 



* These two documents, which were published with President Adams's Message to 

 Congress of December 12th, 1827, are here inserted in full, because reference is fre- 

 quently made to them in the History, particularly to the British paper, the numerous 

 misstatements in which are exposed and refuted. See page 347, and other pages, as 

 specified in the notes. 



